September 20, 2005

Update from Scott Rappold, Louisiana Cookin' Copy Editor

I live in the French Quarter and, trusting the integrity of my building, decided to stay through the storm. We were a group of six, including two 85-year olds, plus three dogs. The incessant wind was the most nerve-wracking experience of the little odyssey that follows. We lost power, but we had water, gas to cook with, a generator and full use of the completely stocked freezers and refrigerators next door at Café Amelie. We dined by candlelight on the balcony on Royal Street.

Monday after the storm we walked aroung the Quarter to survey damage. It was very minor compared to what we would, many days later, see in pictures of other areas. On Tuesday, everybody who had stayed in the Quarter was out and about cleaning up messes and helping neighbors however they could. By Tuesday night the phone calls started pouring in from around the country, friends and family telling us about what was going on with the flooding.

On Wednesday, we were lucky enough to drive out of the city. I had scouted around on my Vespa to see if we would have a viable route. This, and then driving across the bridge not knowing what was going to happen, were the two scariest moments for me.

One of us, Neal, is from Cocodrie. We drove down the bayou, and stayed for almost 10 days in a fishing camp his sister had secured for us. She and her husband own Cecil Lapeyrouse grocery; we really were not wanting for anything. The title of my story would be: Have Chef, Will Travel. In Cocodrie, I became the camp cook, feeding all of us, and our hosts, and whoever stopped by, daily. Every place our little odyssey took us, we tried to repay a place to stay with a taste of home.

After a few days in Cocodrie, our group started splitting up. David and his mother have family in Houma, and they got an apartment for the short term. Bill's Dad got a ride to Houston, and from there flew to Tampa and son John's house. Neal was supposed to start a new job in New York September 30. That was delayed, but we had to get him on a flight out of Jackson, Mississippi, because he had to first drop off his dogs with a friend. Bill and I drove from there to the Gulf Coast, so we could visit with and help family from Biloxi and Gulfport, and then drove to Tampa. We flew from Tampa to New York, where we are staying with a friend until we can go back home. Bill has work, and I am in the process of getting library privileges at NYU so I can get cranking on my dissertation.

We in our group all survived fine, but we all feel incredibly lucky that our survival did not entail the difficulties so many others had to face. The outpouring of love and support from family and friends all over the country has been overwhelming. Humbling, too.